Greens see red over Victorian brown coal

The Australian Greens have labelled Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu an “environmental vandal” after it was revealed the state was looking to massively expand brown coal mining operations in the Latrobe Valley.

The minor party also attacked federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet for refusing to condemn the Victorian move.

State Energy Minister Michael O’Brien on Tuesday said brown coal could and should play a key role in Victoria’s energy future.

But Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt dismissed it as a ludicrous suggestion.

“The premier, Ted Baillieu, is an environmental vandal and must be stopped,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“I will be seeking advice as to what can be done federally to stop this environmental madness.”

That would include examining whether any federal export licences were required for Victorian coal to be sold overseas.

The Greens also have vowed to look at any other options in the federal sphere that could be used to try and block the expansion, including a thinly veiled threat to restrict Commonwealth “cash for closure” money that’s to be paid to the country’s dirtiest power plants.

“It is unacceptable for Victoria to change the effort from coal-fired generation and go to create a new industry in exporting brown coal,” Greens deputy leader Christine Milne told reporters.

Victoria is looking to allocate a further 13 billion tonnes of coal from the Latrobe Valley which would take the total to 41 billion tonnes.

Mr Bandt said if all that was burnt it would be “the equivalent to 73 times Australia’s total greenhouse emissions and five times the whole of China’s greenhouse gas pollution” over five years.

Mr Combet on Tuesday said expanding coal production was “certainly a policy the Victorian government was entitled to pursue”.

“We don’t have a problem with economic development concepts,” he told ABC Radio.

“We’re not in the business of picking particular fuel sources that should or should not be allowed to be exported.”

Mr Combet said Labor’s carbon price, due to start on July 1, would provide incentives to invest in technology that would allow brown coal to be used more efficiently and with fewer emissions.

He also noted that under international emission rules, if Australian coal was burnt in another country that country would have to account for the pollution generated.

But Senator Milne says it’s not good enough for Mr Combet to say that the Commonwealth can’t tell the states what to do.

The minister had an obligation to point out to the nation that Australia was facing “catastrophic” climate change unless it got away from its dependence on fossil fuels.

It was in Australia’s best interests to be scaling back coal production and investing in renewable energy.

Senator Milne said China was looking to impose a cap on coal use from 2015 while India believed solar would be competitive a year later.

If both outcomes came to pass there was a risk Victoria could massively invest in coal infrastructure “only to be hung out to dry”, she said.